Alternative forms

• half mast

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#HALFMAST

Noun

half-mast (uncountable)Category:English lemmas#HALFMASTCategory:English nouns#HALFMASTCategory:English uncountable nouns#HALFMASTCategory:English uncountable nouns#HALFMASTCategory:English multiword terms#HALFMASTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HALFMASTCategory:Pages with entries#HALF-MASTCategory:Pages with 1 entry#HALF-MAST

1. The lowered position, half the height of a mast, at which a flag is flown when mourning, especially expressing respect for the deceased.
   • 2016 October 13, Department for Culture, Media & Sport and Foreign & Commonwealth Office, "Flag-flying from UK government buildings for the death of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand", GOV.UK, Government Digital Service:

     Any other UK national flags flown alongside the Union Flag when it is at half-mast should also be at half-mast.Category:English terms with quotations#HALFMAST

   • 2023 November 2, “China mourns late ex-Premier Li Keqiang”, in Deutsche Welle‎, archived from the original on 02 November 2023, China‎:

     He is to be cremated later Thursday at a ceremony likely to be attended by the country's top leadership.
     Flags were seen flying at half-mast in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. China's state news agency Xinhua reported that flags would be lowered at government buildings across mainland China, semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau, and in consulates abroad.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HALFMAST

2. (by extension) The lowered position of anything.
3. (clothingCategory:en:Clothing#HALFMAST, colloquialCategory:English colloquialisms#HALFMAST) An unfashionably short length of a pair of trousers.
   • 2016, Jeff Payne, Rider (page 142)

     I looked around. Ari in a green jacket with four inches of fore arm showing and trousers at half mast, Penny and I in mismatched padded jackets and ski trousers which were way too long; and all wearing the silver moon boots that had been the rage in the early eighties.

4. (euphemisticCategory:English euphemisms#HALFMAST) The state of having a partially erect penis.
   • 2009, Stephen Cannell, At First Sight: A Novel of Obsession, Vanguard Press, →ISBN, page 227:

     Finally, he was at half-mast, hanging out over the toilet seat, barely erect.

     Category:English terms with quotations#HALFMAST

Verb

half-mast (third-person singular simple present half-masts, present participle half-masting, simple past and past participle half-masted)Category:English lemmas#HALFMASTCategory:English verbs#HALFMASTCategory:English multiword terms#HALFMASTCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#HALFMASTCategory:Pages with entries#HALF-MASTCategory:Pages with 1 entry#HALF-MAST

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#HALFMAST) To fly a flag in this position.